Authors: Carolyn McCray,Elena Gray
Alexis snapped to her senses. Grounded back in reality, she pushed away from Dekker. Her body cried out at the break in contact, but her mind reminded her that she was a cop, and Dekker was a hardened criminal.
She looked at Dekker, a blush staining her cheeks. Flustered, she couldn’t even begin to find the words to break the awkwardness of the moment.
Once again Dekker rescued her, the corner of his mouth lifted in a smile. Grabbing her hand, he led her back to the lane. “Now, let’s get you over a hundred.”
CHAPTER 10
Alexis kept her face calm. Of course, she was anything but calm as Beck read her write- up of last night’s events. However, she did try to keep her features as calm, cool, and collected as she could. Especially with Grace sitting next to her reading her own copy.
Grace was busy sneering her way through the text. Beck seemed relaxed, though. His glasses perched at the end of his nose, her lieutenant appeared to enjoy the early-morning reading.
Tossing the report down on Beck’s desk, Grace skewered Alexis with a stare. “Nothing more exciting than that? Really?”
Well, aside from the fact that we’re a date away from tearing off each other’s clothes? But Alexis did not think that would help her cause. Besides. A lot did happen. Just not the way everyone seemed to want it to go.
“Like I said, the street match was illegal, but Dekker didn’t even fight in it. He flat-out refused.”
“Lieutenant,” Grace pressed. “don’t you think we can haul him in for robbing the pawnbroker?”
“He paid for the ring, though …” Alexis retorted. Granted, it wasn’t the asking price, but it was still paid for.
She went to expound further, but Beck shook his head. “If I’m going to blow Alexis’ cover, I’m going to do it for something a bit more exciting than petty theft.”
The office door swung open as Nick burst in. “They’ve found Ratface.”
“Well, don’t keep us in suspense. Where is he?” asked the lieutenant.
Instead of looking at Beck, Nick directed his answer toward Alexis. “Dead. They found him floating in the river.”
Alexis kept her features still. No fear or loathing allowed. Her stomach, on the other hand? That fell all the way to the floor. Dekker’s smile flashed. The tender way he had shown her the proper way to pick up a bowling ball.
“That’s it,” Grace said as she bounded out of her chair. “We’re going to…”
“What’s the ME’s time of death?” Alexis cut in. Her fingers locked around the arm of the chair.
“Around 10:00 p.m. last night.”
Relief flooded through Alexis. Still she kept her face porcelain and her tone professional. “Lieutenant, it couldn’t have been Dekker. I was with him.”
Laughing and having the best night of my life.
“That’s just an estimate,” Nick said, stepping forward, as if his physical presence could make his words true. And how much he wanted his words to condemn Dekker. “The water makes it hard for the ME to call the time of death. There is a two-hour window on either side.”
Nice try, Nick.
“The fact is, though, that I was with Dekker from eight to at least one,” Alexis explained. “Even if you factor in a cushion, he still couldn’t have done it.”
Grace looked down at Alexis. “I say we let the courts decide.”
Anger flared. Alexis tried to keep it from her voice, but knew she failed. “I don’t think the DA’s going to appreciate it when they find out that Dekker’s alibi is the undercover detective sent to investigate him.”
“Alexis, maybe your judgment is a bit … shaded,” Nick warned.
“Shaded? Me?” Alexis pointed a finger at Nick, and then Grace. “You two are seeing red. Dekker is already tried and convicted. I am talking about
facts
. Facts that don’t fit your trial plan.”
Grace looked ready to throw a punch herself, and Nick wouldn’t look her in the eye. Alexis brought her case to Beck. “Does Dekker walk a fine line between what’s legal and illegal? Yes. But the man has an alibi, no matter how inconvenient.
me
.”
She shook her head. “You guys are busting my chops that I am in too deep when it is you who are willing to jump the gun and blow the case.” Since Nick wouldn’t look at her, Alexis turned her attention to Grace. “What good would it do to blow my cover, when his lawyer is going to have him on the street within the hour?”
Finally, she found something that got Grace to lower her hackles.
Quieter, she turned to Beck. “He’s just starting to trust me.”
And the thought of Dekker exiting her life? That was not an option. Not until she knew for sure if he was the man Nick suspected—or the man she was coming to know.
Beck leaned back in his chair. He folded his hands over his stomach and looked from Nick to Grace. “Once again, she has a point. Anyone care to argue with her logic?”
Now she knew why her father wanted her to work under Beck. The guy could keep his priorities straight. And all the other cops respected him for it. Otherwise, Grace would have been doing a jig on Alexis’ head, and Nick would have her swaddled in a protective blanket.
Tension crackled, but not a word was spoken against her case.
“Well, from that resounding silence I am going to assume that Alexis is still on the case unless you two dig up something firmer.” Beck picked up his phone and began dialing, clearly dismissing anything else Nick or Grace might say.
Alexis tried to slip from the room, but Nick was hot on her heels. Did the guy never get tired of chasing after her? He didn’t even stop when she went into the women’s restroom.
“Nick!”
He shrugged. “You can’t get out of this conversation that easily.”
“Which? The one where you tell me how out of control my behavior is?” she asked. “That I have lost perspective? That I am reacting emotionally and not rationally to the threat that Dekker may pose?”
Nick’s cheeks puffed in and out. “Don’t make light of this, Alexis.”
“I’m not.”
Nick reached out to her. At first, Alexis thought it was a comforting gesture, but then he shoved her sleeve up to reveal marks of every color. Black, blue, green, red, purple, and a sickly yellow.
“Look at yourself.”
She tried to pull away from him, but he squeezed her wrist. Alexis sucked in a breath.
“We’ve seen battered women less bruised than you.”
Alexis jerked her wrist away, hiding the wince.
“I am in training. It comes with the territory.”
“I don’t give a damn what this man did or did not do last night. I care that he hasn’t hesitated to hurt you.”
“Are you getting to a point?” she said as she tugged the sleeve back into place.
“For God’s sake!” Nick’s stormy eyes held hers. “An instructor doesn’t do that to a student. What kind of man are you defending?”
A female beat cop walked into the restroom. She looked at the two detectives, and then walked back out again. Wise woman.
When Alexis turned back to Nick, the anger had bled from his face. He simply looked sad.
“At the least, talk to your father about this.”
“Don’t you dare bring my father into this!” Alexis hissed. She could take a lot of things, but telling her to call “Daddy?” Nick had gone too far.
Blood pounding in her temples, Alexis asked, “Anything else?”
Knowing that this battle was lost, Nick stepped aside. “Nothing that you’d want to hear.”
Well, at least Nick was right about one thing today.
* * *
Dekker finished his afternoon class and walked by Agnes’ office just as she hung up the phone. He flashed her a smile. Dekker had been doing a lot of that today. His students in turn looked at him oddly. It appeared that they feared the new Dekker more than the old one.
“Agnes, I just might give you a raise.”
His longtime assistant picked some papers off her desk. Following Dekker into his office, she tossed them down. “You better look at these before you make any promises that you can’t keep.”
Dekker sat behind his desk and pulled the papers toward him. He looked them over, before shooting Agnes a confused look. “Sorry. Enlighten me.”
“I can’t find a thing on a Lexie Thomas.”
“So?”
Agnes tapped the page in front of him. “I ran her license. It’s completely clean.”
“So, she’s a good driver. What about it?”
Agnes tended to be a little overprotective. He believed the kids called it “s-mothering.”
“How many people do you know who have never had a parking ticket?”
Dekker grabbed the newspaper on his desk and opened it to the obituaries. “I need more than that, Agnes.”
“What do you want me to do now?
He glanced up from the paper. “Isn’t that what I pay you to figure out?”
Agnes nodded, her lips in a firm line. She didn’t approve of his choices. But when did Agnes ever? Yep. S-mothering.
“Has she called yet?” Dekker asked.
Agnes turned in the doorway. “No. Do you want me to get her on the line?”
“No. Yes.” Damn. He could still feel how she felt against him. Her soft skin against his stubble as he taught her proper lane etiquette.
“No,” he stated firmly. “Just let me know when she does.”
“Don’t worry,” Agnes said, with a knowing smile.
“I’m not,” he answered, more gruffly than usual.
What else could he do? Dekker couldn’t afford having people think he’d gone soft.
CHAPTER 11
Alexis slammed her front door hard enough to rattle the pictures hanging on the wall. She strode past Callie, straight to her bedroom. She would have slammed that door too, except Chester was lying on the threshold, probably waiting for that damn mouse.
The urge to punch something filled Alexis. Where was a punching bag when you really needed one? Nick’s over protectiveness had seemed sweet at first. Then it became mildly annoying. But to bring up her father? If there was one person in the station who understood how hard it was to come out from under his shadow, it should have been Nick.
“He hasn’t called yet?”
Alexis turned to find Callie standing in the doorway. Damn, her friend was in stealth mode. Alexis didn’t even hear her approach. Then she noticed the two glasses of wine in Callie’s hands. Leave it to Callie to start happy hour early. It was only two in the afternoon.
“Wanna talk about it?” Callie asked, handing one of the glasses to Alexis.
Alexis shot Callie a “not now” look as she unbuttoned her shirt. She wasn’t in the mood to talk. Alexis had had enough of people meddling in her life. Maybe if she ignored the actress-slash-writer-slash-meddler, she would just leave.
But she should have known that Callie couldn’t leave it at that. Her friend hadn’t been able to since kindergarten.
“They just don’t understand, do they?”
“Understand what?” Alexis asked, frustrated, struggling to get a blue T-shirt over her head. The damn thing kept bunching up and snagging on her elbow.
“That, secretly, you want Dekker to be innocent.”
Alexis’ voice cracked as she ripped her shirt. “I do not!”
“Oh, please.” Callie took a sip of her wine, and then set the second glass on Alexis’ dresser. “This might have started out as a routine investigation, but now you are striving to prove his innocence.”
“Callie, you have never been
so
wrong.”
Mainly because Alexis already believed that Dekker was innocent. However, Callie did not need to know that information. Tugging on the torn tee, Alexis squeezed past Callie. She went down to the living room and plopped on the couch.
Before she could call up her recorded episodes of
Cops
, Callie snatched the TV remote out of Alexis’ hand.
“I am, am I? Tell me your cheeks don’t flush when you see him.”
Alexis felt the burn in her cheeks. She turned her head, avoiding Callie’s all-knowing stare. Stupid Callie and her theater-trained observational skills. “Tell me you weren’t impressed by him last night. Convince me. I’m dying to hear you try.”
Did anyone else know of Dekker’s patient side? Or the pain he bore so stoically? Alexis didn’t think there were many. Sure he had made mistakes in his youth, but who didn’t? Besides, of course, ever-perfect Nick?
In truth, she had begun to feel guilty lying to Dekker. Keeping the secret of the investigation from him when he had been nothing but open and honest with her.
“So what if I am?” Alexis turned to Callie, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall.
Callie’s expression softened. She leaned in, placing a comforting hand on Alexis’ knee.
“So what if you are? You just better admit it to yourself, if no one else. But what about Nick?”
Alexis wiped the moisture off her cheek with the back of her fingers. “What about him?”
“Come on, Alexis. As of yesterday, you were dating him.”
“He’s … he’s …”